Modern equipment for AM/FM receiver adjustment

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WattPusher

Member
Joined 2013
I've just picked up a LaFayette LR-5555 receiver for very little money with an eye toward using it for restoration practice before taking on my own Pioneer SX-series receiver (that I only just barely was able to get back from Crossed Paths Vintage in Texas after more than a year and almost no work done on it - DO NOT SEND ANYTHING TO THAT GUY!).

The area in which I am least equipped to restore a receiver like these is tuner alignment and from the Pioneer service manual I understand that I need these pieces of equipment:

  • FM signal generator
  • AM signal generator
  • AC voltmeter (I assume a garden-variety DMM will do)
  • Oscilloscope that can do XY (I have a Rigol DS1054Z)
  • Distortion meter
  • MPX signal generator
Now, back in the day each of those things would be a discrete piece of equipment. But given that I'd be walking into this with nothing but an oscilloscope and a DMM, in 2023 what is a solid way to complete the setup without traveling around the region to hamfests, taking chances on eBay, buying things off Amazon that are shipped from the far east of sketchy quality and/or difficult to use (I bought an audio function generator that's both), or just speccing out new HP-ish hardware that's hundreds a pop? Isn't there, like, software-defined-radio hardware that can do all this stuff? I'm not going to be making a living out of restoring receivers so paying top dollar for new do-it-all stuff or even top-drawer used pieces (like ~$500 on eBay for an HP 3325A) is something I can't see myself doing.
 
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